


Stop and Smell the Christmas

by stillifall



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: M/M, yes its christmas time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 04:18:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21488224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillifall/pseuds/stillifall
Summary: Buck has never had a perfect Christmas, but this year he has a family at the 118 so he hopes he can change that. But when his friends get annoyed at his attempts to celebrate, Maddie has to step in and tell them how much this holiday means to Buck.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 9
Kudos: 461
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	Stop and Smell the Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, it is Christmas time. Enjoy!

It was a week before Christmas in the fire station, and even though they all truly enjoyed the holidays, it was also one of the hardest times to be a first responder. If Buck knew this, he didn’t show it. The man was overflowing with holiday spirit. He had been as soon as the calendar marked December 1st. No one questioned it, just as much as no one questioned all the holidays activities he found himself doing at the station.

“Buck this is your fifth batch,” Chimney mentioned as Buck took out another tray of gingerbread cookies. The man smiled, an excited look on his face. He had been baking cookies for the past few days, varying flavors and shapes. He would spend his downtime frosting them, even going as far as having Cap help him decorate some. (You could clearly tell who did which ones, some more… detailed than others.) Hen had taken some home to her family, and Cap had taken some for Athena and her family. And even though the cookies were going to different families, it didn’t stop Buck from making even more. The fire station smelled like a bakery. 

“You can’t have enough Christmas cookies. Plus we could hand them out! People love that.” Chimney shook his head. Buck was right, people did love it when the fire station handed out goods. Still, at one point Buck had to stop making cookies so they could actually use the kitchen for something other than baking. Chimney guessed that the cutting point was probably five batches of cookies.

“I think you made enough Buck,” he responded, glancing around the kitchen. Buck’s smile faltered, which made Chimney feel a pang of guilt. (Maybe he should have cut him off after the sixth batch.)

“Yeah you are probably right.” 

Buck started to put the cookies in another plate, but he didn’t look as excited as before. His movements were slower, and he stopped humming Christmas tunes. Chimney felt the need to fix this, but he didn’t know how. He grabbed a cookie and complimented how good it tasted, but Buck only shrugged and continued to put the ingredients away. Before long, the fire alarm rang and both of them rushed downstairs, leaving the cookies sitting alone.

That was the first thing that went wrong.

* * *

Two days later, Buck was handing out ugly Christmas sweaters to everyone in the station. They were all different colors, and personalized. He looked like a little boy, handing out toys to his friends. He said he bought them with his own money, and while Chimney found it sweet, everyone else thought it was a waste of a paycheck. (Which maybe it was, but they were family so Chimney wished they could just go along with it.) Chimney wore his, only complaining about how big it looked on him. His teasing tone made Buck chuckled. Cap went along with it, further encouraging Buck to continue to hand out the sweaters. Once he handed them to Hen and Eddie both of them looked unconvinced.

“Buck, they are not funny.” Buck only rolled his eyes, refusing to take Hen’s sweater from her. He tried to convince her they were funny, plus that they all had a theme going. Hen wasn’t having it.

“Besides, we are at work. We need to be taken seriously,” Eddie added, trying on his sweater and frowning upon it. Buck rolled his eyes.

“They are not supposed to make you look hot Eddie,” Buck retorted. Still, Hen and Eddie took them off and placed them in the table, making Buck frown. They walked away, both of them shaking their heads and talking among themselves about how stupid the ugly Christmas sweater tradition was. Buck only rolled his eyes and took off his sweater. He knew they weren’t trying to hurt him, but that didn’t mean their reactions didn’t made his heart ache just the slightest. Cap and Chimney exchanged a look.

“I like them Buck, maybe we can bring one to Maddie,” Chimney suggested, trying to perk up the boy. It only worked a tiny bit. Buck shot him a small forced smile and mumbled a ‘yeah’.

That was the second thing that went wrong.

* * *

Christmas decorating was basically the epitome of Christmas spirit in Buck’s eyes. Which is how he found himself in a ladder trying to hang lights over each corner of the station.

“Buck be careful,” Eddie shouted from the bottom, holding the ladder. He had felt a bit of remorse about the sweater thing. (When he had gotten home Christopher had asked to see his sweater, apparently Buck had mentioned the idea to his son. It was only after Christopher frowned when he explained that he hadn’t worn it that he realized he was being a bit of a jerk. An overdramatic jerk.)

So he was making it up to him by helping him with decorations. Buck had a nail on his mouth as he nailed another wreath by the rail. 

“Hey Eddie could you put some music?” Buck mumbled, grabbing part of the garland and nailing it. Eddie let go of the ladder for a moment and then took out his phone, putting a playlist that Buck had created titled ‘Stop and Smell the Christmas’. Eddie found it funny. He clicked play and immediately Buck began to hum along. Eddie wouldn’t admit that it was an adorable sight, part of him wished that Buck could also come and decorate the house with him and Christopher. Buck’s enthusiasm matched Christopher’s, and well, sometimes a little more happiness was needed in the Diaz household.

The fire alarm rang, startling both of them. Buck made his way down the ladder but tripped on the last step. Eddie tried to catch him, only to be dragged down by the weight of Buck. They both groaned. 

“Guys, come on!” Chimney shouted, grabbing both of their arms and yanking them up. Bobby spotted them and shook their head. As they got into the firetruck, Buck could feel Cap’s gaze on him.

“Why were you guys on the floor?” Eddie looked at Buck, who already seemed resigned to the consequences.

“We were decorating, setting up garlands and-” Eddie got cut off by Bobby’s stern look.

“We are a fire station. Not a holiday shop. I don’t want you guys distracted.” Bobby’s tone was stern, but not bitter. Still, it didn’t stop Eddie from frowning and feeling a bubble of anger rise up as he saw Buck’s deflated look. 

“Sorry Cap, won’t happen again.” 

Eddie looked around, finding Chimney looking back at him with a concerned look. Buck paid them no mind.

Once the call was over and they were back at the fire station, Eddie was going to suggest to keep decorating. Maybe without the ladder. Just making paper snowflakes, or hanging ornaments, or even trying to find some mistletoe. Before he could suggest any of those options, Buck was already napping on the couch, avoiding everyone.

That was the third time something went wrong.

* * *

“What do you mean he looked sad?” Maddie asked Chimney as they were washing the dishes in her apartment. Chimney shrugged.

“Yeah, he’s been wanting to do Christmas activities all month long and well, he hasn’t caught us at our best.” Maddie stopped scrubbing and frowned. Chimney stopped and turned around.

“Everything okay?” Maddie held an angry scowl on her face. Her eyes were reflecting anger, and the way her hands were now gripping the plate, Chimney wouldn’t want to question why she was mad.

“Tomorrow is Buck’s day off, so you better round up everyone at the beginning of your shift so I can have a talk with everyone.” Chimney nodded, feeling a shiver in his spine. He didn’t bother to ask why, he only agreed.

* * *

As soon as Chimney arrived to the station, he spread the word about Maddie. Everyone was wondering what exactly Maddie was going to tell them, but no one dared refuse to show up. When the clock ticked 9am, Maddie walked in through the doors. Her heels were clicking as she walked between the fire trucks and began to climb up the stairs. 

Bobby was standing in the middle, with Hen, Chimney and Eddie standing close behind him. Almost as if he was going to protect them from whatever Maddie was going to spit at them. 

When she reached them, Chimney noticed that she didn’t look as angry as yesterday. She seemed collected. Maddie breathed in and then looked at all of them.

“I came here because I want to ask you to be nice to Buck about his Christmas shenanigans,” She started, “because if I see that any of you hurt him again, I will personally come and take care of that.” No one questioned what exactly she meant by that, but no one could argue that she wasn’t talking about murdering them so. 

“Maddie, I understand that you are protective of Buck but-” Maddie shook her head and stepped forward, cutting Bobby off.

“No, you don’t understand. Buck and I never had a good Christmas. Our parents never gave that to us. I never gave him a proper Christmas. And well, he’s been living alone for a while. So I don’t think I’m asking for a lot if Buck, for the first time, finds himself surrounded with people he loves and cares about and therefore wants a good Christmas. So fucking humor me and eat some of his cookies, put a sweater and hang a damn ornament. God knows Buck deserves that.” 

They all stood there dumbfounded. 

Chimney approached her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, rubbing her arm. Eddie cleared his throat. 

“We’ll give him the best Christmas Maddie.” Maddie nodded, flashing Eddie a kind smile.

“Thank you.”

She gave Chimney a kiss to his cheek and waved everyone a goodbye. The sounds of her heels faded, and once it was completely gone, everyone turned to look at each other.

“So, I’m not the only one who feels scared but also guilty, right?” Hen asked, frantically looking around for any answers. Cap nodded.

“We have to apologize to Buck,” Bobby answered. Everyone nodded. Eddie then cleared his throat, stepping forward.

“Actually, I have a better idea.”

* * *

Buck took a deep breath as he stepped out of his jeep. He knew he was being too much for the 118. He knew that all of his holiday activities were making the crew get annoyed. Still. He wished they knew how important it was for him. He felt like the 118 was his family and to celebrate the holidays with all of them seemed like a perfect idea. Except, maybe it wasn’t their perfect idea.

He grabbed his bag out of his car and forced a smile on his face. This was fine. He didn’t need to celebrate Christmas. He's a grown man and he doesn’t need sparkling lights, or ornaments or any of that stuff. (He was lying, but it would have to do.)

He walked into the station and gasped.

Holy shit.

It looked like one of those famous, rich houses covered in twinkling lights. The fire trucks were covered in garlands that had glowing ornaments and lights tangled in them. There were huge wreaths, all of them decorated with different ornaments. Snowmen, gingerbread cookies, painted rounded spheres. Buck loved it. There was a Christmas tree, and right next to it there were Christmas boots, with their names sewed on them. 

Buck let out a chuckle, looking everywhere in awe. His eyes sparkled joy. Once he walked past it, he found the rest of the team standing there, wearing their sweaters. Christopher was there, and so was Athena. Save for Chimney, who was dressed as Santa. Buck burst out laughing.

“Guys? You did this for me?”

“We wanted to apologize. And well, you deserve a holiday to remember Buck,” Cap said. Everyone cheered, giving quick hugs to him. Chimney went off with Eddie, Christopher and Cap to prepare dinner while Hen and Athena stayed with Buck. Buck stepped back to admire the decorations again.

“Its beautiful.” Hen hummed in agreement.

“Eddie’s idea. I have to give him credit though, I didn’t know he was this good with decorating.” Buck widened his eyes. Eddie did this for him? That was possibly one of the sweetest thing someone ever did for him. 

“Why don’t you go thank him?” Athena didn’t need to ask twice. Buck turned around and tried to spot the other man. He found him stepping away from Christopher and Chimney, almost as if he was looking for something. Buck absentmindedly wished Eddie was looking for him. 

Once he reached Eddie, he grinned. 

“Hey man, thank you. For all of this.” Eddie smiled, stepping closer to him. He looked...flustered. 

“Of course. You deserve the best after putting up with all of us.” Buck laughed then. Once his laughter died, he was left with Eddie looking at him fondly. It made something in Buck melt. His heartbeat quickening. He suddenly felt speechless, like all the words were stuck in his throat. He felt his cheeks growing a shade darker, and suddenly, he couldn't find anywhere else to look quick enough.

“Hey Evan,” Athena’s voice struck him out of his trance, “mistletoe.”

Buck widened his eyes and looked up. There was, indeed, mistletoe. He looked back at Eddie, who had a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

“Guess I forgot I placed that there.” 

“You placed it?” Buck asked, his tone flustered. Eddie smiled innocently. 

“Traditions are traditions Buck!” Hen shouted from where she was standing next to Athena. Buck was now a hundred percent sure he was blushing. He looked back at Eddie, who seemed pretty smug about all this. Part of him wondered if they planned this.

He felt Eddie’s hand cup his face. 

“Can I kiss you?” Buck grinned.

“Its tradition right?” 

And with that, Eddie pressed his lips against Buck’s. With the lights flickering around them, the fire station glistening with decorations of all kinds, and the smell of Christmas in the air, Buck couldn’t think of a more perfect holiday.


End file.
